One 20-year-old told me: “I was arrested last month and had to pay 70,000 kyat ().

Some of my friends who weren’t able to pay are now in prison.” * Karaokes often serve as fronts for prostitution.

They believe that contact with a woman's panties or sarong can rob them of their power.The number of “fragrant flowers” walking the streets and working the bars of Burma’s major city has reportedly soared since Cyclone Nargis ripped into the Irrawaddy delta and tore families apart.The arrival of desperate young women ready to trade their bodies for the equivalent of two or three dollars has depressed Rangoon prices still further, and the new girls on the block face not only police harassment but the hostility of the “old timers.” [Source: Aung Thet Wine, The Irrawaddy, July 15, 2008 *] “One afternoon in central Rangoon, I went hunting for an interview subject in one of the city’s main thoroughfares, Bogyoke Aung San Street. Outside the Thwin cinema, a woman in her forties approached me with the offer of a girl of my choice.[Source: Aung Thet Wine, The Irrawaddy, July 15, 2008 *] “When we left the guesthouse, and I was alarmed to see two uniformed police officers in the entrance.Soliciting for prostitution is illegal in Burma and the sex trade can also get customers into trouble.

“If I reject a customer there are many others who’ll accept his demands for the price of a meal,” sighed one.” * Describing a guesthouse in Yangon, where prostitutes operate, Aung Thet Wine wrote in The Irrawaddy, “The “guesthouse” rented its 30 or so rooms to “short stay” guests, charging 2,000 kyat (US $1.6) for an hour and 5,000 kyat ($4) for the night.